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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30011238">better late than never</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogsbreath/pseuds/dogsbreath'>dogsbreath</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hawaii Five-0 (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Developing Relationship, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Idiots in Love, Introspection, Kissing, M/M, POV Danny "Danno" Williams, So Married</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:15:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>823</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30011238</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogsbreath/pseuds/dogsbreath</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny thinks about Steve. He also thinks about his life with Steve, and how they really are married, aren’t they?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve McGarrett &amp; Danny "Danno" Williams, Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>65</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>better late than never</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/wywrprenti/gifts">wywrprenti</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny is well aware of just how many people think he and Steve are married (at least half of the population of Oahu, he’s come to learn), and he is well aware that they don’t do anything to debunk those claims. Danny is also well aware he either spends a ridiculous amount of time thinking about it, or none at all. </p><p>It’s not some homophobic thing, Danny’d be a hypocrite if it was. He’s never hid his sexuality, never saw a reason to, not even when he lived back in Jersey. He was who he is, and no one or nothing would change the fact that he was proud of it. </p><p>No, it wasn’t a homophobic thing. It was Steve thing. The man was an enigma. Something Danny’s been taking apart for ten years and still hasn’t solved. He never corrected anyone, never introduced Danny as anything but his partner (he never specified. Danny never wants him to), but there were moments, like the stakeout, when he denied it. He denied it so fast, even though it probably would’ve helped with their cover. </p><p>Despite this, it’s been years since the mans been just Dannys partner. He was his best friend, his kids Step-Steve, his family. He’d wormed his way into every aspect of Danny‘s life and taken over, settled in for the long run like he belonged there. And the thing that gets Danny is that he <em>did.</em> he belonged in Dannys life, in his home, in his family, like no one else had. Not Rachel, not Amber, no one. </p><p>Steve was his emergency contact, his first call for his kid’s school, his domestic partner. They had shared cars, clothes, pets, finances. They had <em>kids.</em> Grace, Charlie, Nahele, Junior. They were their kids. </p><p>His mom always askes about Steve after talking about the kids. They’ve gone headfirst into hostile foreign countries to make sure the other was okay. <em>I would like to know, so that i know when to duck! </em>Danny remembers telling him, amidst an argument in the car, during the first week he met Steve. </p><p>Steve understood him more than Rachel had. With Rachel, his job had been the other woman. With Amber, <em>Steve</em> had been the other woman. With Steve? There was no other woman. they did everything together. job, groceries, kids, surfing, all of it. </p><p>Dannys life is so intertwined with Steve’s that he couldn’t tell you where his stops and Steve’s starts on a good day. </p><p>Steve’s an enigma, a puzzle he just can’t figure out. <em>(me and gracie? we love puzzles)</em></p><p>Maybe that’s the beauty of it. He doesn’t have to pick Steve apart and know every little detail about him before deciding if he loved him. He already did. He loved Steve, in every way that mattered. As a partner, a friend, as family, as.. as everything. </p><p>His morning routine consists of telling Steve he loves him before they leave for work. He never had that with Rachel, because she’d be up and in the kitchen passive aggressively making food for herself by the time he was out the door. </p><p>He loves Steve, in every way that matters. in every way that counts. He doesn’t have a definitive answer about how he feels about Steve, because he doesn’t need one. </p><p>Danny stumbles, and Steve catches him. Steve stumbles, Danny catches him. Becomes a second nature after sharing a job, a car, a house, money, kids for more than a decade. </p><p>There are lines, Danny knows. Lines Rachel wouldn’t let him pass, lines he enforced with amber. Those lines don’t exist, they never did, when it comes to Steve. </p><p>Steve has an all access pass to his heart, a VIP ticket no one else had ever had. </p><p>Danny doesn’t even know if Grace can remember a time without Steve. Charlie doesn’t. </p><p>All this, their life, their habits, their nature, maybe that’s why he forgets. He forgets that no, they haven’t talked about it. That no, they’re not married, like the entire criminal population of the island likes to think. </p><p>He forgets, and he comes downstairs to find Steve reading the paper, and Grace waiting for him at the door for him to drive her to Rachel’s. He sends her off to the car, steals a few mouthfuls of Steve’s coffee, and presses a chaste kiss to his lips. </p><p>He’s halfway to Rachel’s when he realizes what happened. </p><p>Steve’s still at the table, still reading the paper, when Danny lays the keys in the bowl on the table. He passes Steve, ready to actively Not Talk About It, when Steve grabs his arm, and pulls him down to kiss him again. Steady and sure, and full of everything Dannys spent the last ten years thinking about. </p><p>“Should’ve been doing that for the last nine years.” Steve grinned, breathless. Danny rolled his eyes. </p><p>“You know what they say: better late than never.” </p><p>He kisses Steve again, and doesn’t stop.</p>
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